Elsa Martinelli and Hélène Rochas

Elsa Martinelli and Hélène Rochas chatting to each other as they walk down the red carpet at an event

1968. They’re at an event and the carpet they’re treading is presumably red. Looks like this could be a premiere but who knows? Love the surrounding kerfuffle, particularly the paparazzo in the background.

Hélène Rochas became the third wife of couturier Marcel Rochas only a few months after she met him as an 18-year-old on the last Metro of the evening during the Nazi Occupation of Paris. She was a leader in Paris society for decades, and also a highly successful businesswoman.


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